Pros
The state of the code (even before AI, because of the "pace") was in such disarray that I learned a ton. To be clear, this was due to my own agency and love for what I do, not because I was enabled or empowered. But I was given the circumstance to level up 10x, and my experience is rich.
Cons
Where to begin? I want to mention the emphasis on speed and why it was delusional, but thats not even the worst part. If there had been real transparency for the reason for the cuts, the company would probably have retained the talent they chose to keep after the layoff. Instead, the CEO doubled down on the bad message, wrote inspirational-sounding (Claude authored) LinkedIn posts, and forced an AI usage leaderboard without giving any support or direction. We get it, innovation can only happen when the idea first seems crazy in the status quo, but this was *not* *that.* They chose to cut a large number of their workforce that was keeping things on track in the background. Now AI is going to scale massive misinformation. Anyone who is hired moving forward is going to inherit that mess (literally in any department) and they will be set up for failure, regardless of what anyone says (or how convincing they are).